Ki Tissa
Ex. 30:11-34:35
Précis: The parasha begins with a census of the people, accomplished by the collection of a half shekel. We then return to a description of Tabernacle items, including the basin, anointing oil, and incense. The holy work of building the Tabernacle is to be interrupted by Shabbat. Then we return to narrative. Moses is given the two tablets and he descends from Mount Sinai. There he sees the people worshipping the Golden Calf. The tablets are smashed and the evil doers are punished. Moses returns up the mountain, and we next have the articulation of the 13 Attributes of God. Moses carves a new set of tablets, and returns to the People, his face radiant.
Ex. 34:27 ‘Write for yourself (k'tav lecha) these words, for according to (al pi) these words I have sealed a covenant (brit) with you and with Israel.”
Rabbi Mordechai Silverstein has written about the origin of belief in a written law and an oral law (Torah Sparks, 3/3/18), finding its proof text in this verse. Situated after the story of the Golden Calf and Moses' re-ascent to the mountain top, the Sages note that the Hebrew phrase “al pi” is usually translated as “according to” but its origin is in the word “pi” which literally means “mouth.” The close connection between k’tav (write) and pi (mouth) and brit (covenant) displays the importance of torah she’bal pe, the Oral law developed by the Rabbis. Tradition, found in the beginning of Pirke Avot, states that the Oral Law was transmitted from God to Moses, and then to Joshua, the Judges, and ultimately to the Sanhedrin and the Sages.
Silverstein cites Rabbi Gerson Cohen (z’l) who believed that Rabbinic Judaism provided two indispensable religious innovations: (1) universal study of the Oral Law (as eventually transcribed in the Talmud) as a religious discipline to commune with God, and (2) a way for Judaism to continue without the priestly caste and the sacrificial system. While there remain remnants of the caste (in the recognition of their descendants), we no longer have intermediaries between ourselves and God. Our religious observance became democratic.
Finally, the embrace of Oral Law as the central expression of the Jewish People's covenant with God is what makes Rabbinic Judaism and our covenant unique.
